窮與富

當看待事物的角度發生改變時，得出的結論竟然會如此不同：父親帶著孩子去體驗窮人的生活，但他們衡量窮與富的標準會是一樣的嗎？

By Kate Quinn

那零 選注

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his daughter on a trip to the country with the firm[1] purpose of showing her how poor people live. They spent a couple of[2] days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his daughter, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah,” said the girl.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The girl answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek[3] that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night.[4] Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon.[5] We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields[6] that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property[7] to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”

The girl’s father was speechless[8].

Then his daughter added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

Vocabulary

1. firm: （信念等）堅定的，斷然的。

2. a couple of: 〈口〉幾（個），一些。

3. creek: 溪流，小河。

4. import: 引進；lantern: 燈籠。

5. patio: （連接房屋并鋪有地面的）露臺，平臺，可用作戶外活動或戶外用餐的場地；front yard: 〈美〉前院。

6. fields: 原野，曠野。

7. property: 財產，資產。

8. speechless: 啞口無言的。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）